My Houston Texans roadmap: What the Texans need to do short and long term

Lots of interesting comments in the last post talking about realistic things that can be done to help the Texans fortunes in a forward-looking basis. Figured I’d put my list together. I’m not going to pretend to have the answers, but I hope this serves as a basis for discussion.

Short Term:

1. More Balance on Offense: Few offensive lines are designed to get into pass most mode. Certainly, the Texans offensive line isn’t built that way. The offense looks the best when there is a good balance of run and pass to keep defenses honest and to put less pressure on the quarterback.

We have heard Gary Kubiak over the last three years say after games that he wish he would have run the ball more. He has a team that needs to run more, at least more than 15 or 16 carries a game. It will put less pressure on his quarterback and hopefully eat clock to keep that awful defense off the field.

Even when they are facing good defensive teams, they need to run the ball to keep the defenses honest.

2. Wins v. Future: The Texans have two somewhat competing interests. They are a franchise in need of wins, confidence and learning to close out games. But at this point, they need to develop the players they have on their roster. Over the last couple of seasons, Kubiak has said he wishes he would have played some young players more, such as WR Kevin Walter and LB Zac Diles.

With the fork stuck in this season, I don’t want to hear after the season talk about how he wished he would have played players like CB Fred Bennett and DT Frank Okam more. Maybe the team plays substantially worse with them in the lineup, but I’d find that hard to believe.

3. Richard Smith Needs to Go: I’ve already listed extensive reasons about why the defensive coordinator needs to be fired in this blog post, which thanks to people like you is the number one google hit for “Fire Richard Smith.” I’ve been a non-fan of his work since early in the 2006 season as evidenced here and here.

Why has Smith stayed as long as he has? I think the early reason was that the 2005 defense was so bad, and he had the task of switching it over to a 4-3. The defense did show minor improvement from the awful 2006 start. Last year, the defense had significant injury problems in the secondary and the 8-8 finish hid to some how bad that defense was.

But here are the Football Outsider rankings for defense that look at performance compared to the rest of the league for similar down and distance situations and adjusted by strength of opponent:

The Texans defensive rankings look better in each of these years in yards per game but as I explained here, these rankings give a more accurate view of team performance relative to other teams.

I don’t have a strong point of view of whether he needs to be shown the door now or after the season. The argument for doing it now is that if his players don’t believe in him at all, and have little reason to do so, why not? Why delay the inevitable?

[T]here is a time and place for everything, and the time and place for firing people is at the end of the season. Not now, not tomorrow, not next week. You can point to whomever you want to justify firing somebody yesterday, and I’ll counter with the Oakland Raiders. This was a team that couldn’t get any worse, but they fired their coach and they did. They fired their starting DB and they got even worse. Fire a guy mid-season and you just give the new guy a pass. Hey, the old guy screwed it all up, and you’re just stuck with it. Get used to losing this year and blaming the old guy. Build up that losing culture!

Firing is for the off-season. And unless things get a lot better, there will be some firing. Until then, keep ‘em fighting for their jobs.

Obtaining quality free agents isn’t an easy thing to do because most franchises can keep their best players, but still, the Texans have chosen some very poor fits with the team and then paid them crazy money.

2. Evaluate Strength Training: Another person who has been with the franchise from the beginning is strength and conditioning coach Dan Riley. Very personable guy who has been in the league for a long time. That being said, I’m not sure that the techniques he uses for strength training as he has publicly described them prepare the players well for the season.

He is a high profile proponent of High Intensity Training techniques. (pdf link) To simplify what he advocates(pdf link), it is basically lots of lifting using machines and then having players work on the activities they use for their skill positions. He believes in keeping the same weight program throughout the year to maintain strength.

And I’m not going to pretend to be an expert on weight training, but at least in my experience, lifting weights focusing on individual muscle groups doesn’t mimic the explosive balanced power you need when doing sporting activities.

You can be gym strong without being sports strong.

If you look at the most physical players on the Texans, all of them came to the team that way. Andre Johnson participates in the Texans workouts but has done his own workouts for years.

The Tennessee Titans, for instance, incorporate kettleball workouts in their weight training to build strength through movement and improve cardiovascular endurance. Defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch claims, “In football it’s so much about being tough and not giving up and that’s what the kettlebell workout is all about.”

I’m not saying that kettleballs would solve everything, but it seems to be that Riley’s methods look to be dated. And more importanly, if your team has never been a physical one, and he is the only strength coach you have had, maybe you should consider a change.

3. Evaluate Entire Staff: I’ve given a few examples of staff members who have stayed longer than their performance might suggest they should. Secondary coach Jon Hoke may be one of those people. His job with the Texans was his first NFL job, and truly the best years for the secondary were when they had Aaron Glenn, a player not developed through the Texans.

4. Focus on Immediate Impact Players: The Texans over the years have had a mix of drafting developmental players who might fit what they are doing along with players who were more complete players with a solid track record in college. I think the bias in the Texans draft needs to focus on more complete players who are more ready to play without a ton of coaching up.

Some of the best players on the team are ones that peformed well in college and then are performing well in the NFL.

5. Defensive Players: Since Gary Kubiak has been coach, the Texans have pretty much balanced draft picks between the offense and defense. Some people believe the defense has so many needs that the draft should be very defense focused.

The difficulty with that is the Texans defense is already very young (unless it is very old). The Texans are missing a group of quality players who should be in the primes of their career because they have missed in the draft so much.

What they need on defense is:

• A defensive coordinator with a proven track record that holds the player’s respect and gives them a clear direction of what their defense is supposed to look like;

• A coordinator who knows the types of players that suit that defense and can communicate that to the GM and draft staff;

• More football smart defensive playmakers in both the draft and free agency.

• Some luck other than the buzzard’s kind.

The draft/acquistions that the Texans have made for offense have made some sort of sense to me even when they haven’t worked out. On defense, a lot of the personnel decisions seem all over the place.

6. Looking at How Texans Run Training Camp.

The Texans camp is held in Houston, and this is something great for fans. More and more teams are doing camps at their own sites because the facilities are better.

That being said, if you hold camp in 95+ degree heat, are the players you are keeping on your roster only those who can handle the heat? For example, the Texans are worst in the league against the run and their defensive linemen with one exception are all around the 300 lb range.

I’m sure that there are all sorts of huge linemen who are very effective in the league but would have a hard time surviving the practice conditions of a Texans camp.

• • •

Certainly, this road map is not a complete one, but it is meant to give people things to think about. And I left out some of the obvious things such as getting rid of stupid contracts. And it is probably a disappointment for those who want to give Gary Kubiak and Rick Smith the boot.

But as it relates to the Kubiak-Smith team, it seems to me that for as bad as the team was in 2005 as far as personnel, they actually have made some substantial improvements. Not everything has worked, but there’s not a team out there who doesn’t have misses.

Coming into 2008, the Texans were faced with a potentially coach killing early schedule (not even counting the distractions entailed with a Hurricane Ike imposed bye). Everybody knew that…in theory. But the reality of what that actually looks like on a football field is something that was surprising to some.

And bad starts to a season have a tendency to snowball. So much of football is getting used to playing together as a team and having confidence.

I’ve seen enough of Kubiak-Smith to think that I’d like to see what this team could look like with a defense that was even average. The offense shows promise, the special teams has played well. I want a defensive overhaul, and I’d like to see it put together by someone who knows what they are doing.

[Update: Here's a nice article discussing keeping Kubiak that echos some of the same points I am making. Didn't see this until after I put this entry up, but I thought you would be interested in it.]

Besides, I don’t think there is a realistic name out there as a head coaching prospect that makes me think I’d want to scrap Kubiak and start rebuilding…yet again.

• • •

In much more silly news, here’s my account of being at last week’s game:

I’ve seen enough of Kubiak-Smith to think that I’d like to see what this team could look like with a defense that was even average.-steph

Thank you, thank you. The way the offense moves up and down the field, we can be a good team with just an average defense. I would love a top 5 defense, who doesn’t, but just being 15th in the league and a top 5 offense, that can take this team into the playoffs. Wishful thinking I guess.

Great post. I agree with every one of your short term goals. If I was the coach, I’d also set some discrete goals to give the team more purpose as they play out the string.

From a long term perspective, I also agree they need to take a better look at their pro scouting, but I think for every high-priced free agent bust, Rick Smith has found some serviceable guys to fill gaps and make contributions. I do not believe in chasing high-priced free agents at all, so I’m not going to slag the staff if they elect to refrain from doing so. I’d prefer they concentrated on drafting well and paying the good players they do have to stay with the team.

With regard to the draft (and as I alluded to in my previous post it’s depressing to have to start thinking about it already), there will certainly be some clamoring to concentrate heavily on defensive players. I personally lean more towards drafting the best player available (with a few exceptions) rather than “reaching” for a player because you have a need. The exception to that is when you have a need a couple of critical positions, namely QB and LT. For those two positions, you may have to make a bit of reach simply due to market conditions. So when the Texans took Duane Brown in the 1st, I understood where they were coming from and actually thought it was a pretty good move.

Finally, with regard to Richard Smith: I’ve never been happy with passive defenses, and I believe his schemes tend to be too passive. I’d prefer that they be much more aggressive and innovative with regard to pressure schemes and cover packages. I just don’t think Richard Smith brings any of that to the table. Other teams have performed better with less or equal talent to what the Texans have right now.

While I understand the logic for keeping the guy on until the end of the year, as a fan, I just don’t know how much more 4 man rushes and 10 yard CB cushions on passing downs I can stomach.

Really, I think if the Texans give up 35 points this weekend and look bad doing it, why not fire Richard Smith? Nothing personal, but if I performed in my job at a sub-par level for as long as he has, I’d be fired already.

Regards

Eric K

[I agree about not reaching for need. The Texans have so many needs I don't think they have to do much reaching. The concern I have with pro scouting is not that they haven't got big named expensive free agents (from a salary cap perspective not very doable anyway), but rather they have since the beginning of the franchise given nice sized contracts to some very marginal players. As it relates to Richard Smith, my concern is not so much passive/active defense but rather he has always seemed like he is coaching over his head. From the beginning. That he didn't have a proven scheme, and what he did have he didn't know how to communicate it to his players. -Steph]

steph you wrote [Your premise is incorrect. Kubiak wasn’t passed over for HC jobs many times. Most HC do come from the assistant ranks originally. Some have success, some don’t, and some have it in jobs down the line.-Steph

As in other assistant or coordinator jobs. The top level of their competence level.

Where does your inside information come from Steph? In the past every time a HC job came open Kubiak was mentioned as a possible hire. Are you going to pull a McClain and quote your supposed information from “Coaches and informed experts around the league” Some of whom got the Texans in the current mess. Do you consider 3 years a sutibale lenght of time to be considered a rookie HC? How long should it take?

Your blog does the best job of evaluating the Texans on this site. Thanks for giving us the reality of what is wrong with the organization.

I think if they continue to let times score 30 points on their defense each week Richard Smith should be gone.

One really important improvement the Texans need is playing good on the road. Only good football teams can do that and they need to rely their coaches to really prepare. I always feel like Kubiak doesnt prepare his team well for the road. They also need to win in their division.

[Thanks for the kind words. I think that an improved defense would help their road woes significantly. Good to great D can keep teams in games even when an offense is having problems on the road. -Steph]

I’ve never seen a lawyer driving a Toyota Camry. What’s up with that???

[Hey! That was a Hybrid Camry but it wasn't mine though it looked like it was a really nice car before it got crushed. That was the second car in the collision, the one that got hit and then hit my car. The damage on my car fortunately wasn't terribly picture worthy. Admittedly, I must confess a deep and long lasting love for German cars which is probably more in keeping with with appropriate lawyer stereotypes. My first car was a VW. -Steph]

No more Amobi Okoyes. I know he’s still the youngest player in the NFL, but that’s as much of a curse as it is a blessing. Yeah, he might still develop into a good player, but he’s been paid obscenely now for two seasons and he’s clearly not ready for this league. Coulda had Patrick Willis. So along those lines, draft a physically mature MLB like USC’s Rey Maualuga. He’s that fearsome playmaker this defense lacks. He would also be a double bonus because DeMeco Ryans could move back to his natural position and shine.

Fire Richard Smith, and keep Gary and Rick. I totally agree.

We have to get a QB who doesn’t miss every third start. The offensive scheme works, but we just don’t have anyone to run it consistently. Schaub is very capable when he’s not fumbling, but he continues to get nicked up. Sorry, this isn’t flag football.

[Thanks for the kind words. Schaub hasn't been nicked up for no reason. He has been destroyed with some pretty big hits. Two of those resulted in large fines. Fines don't help him out any. Texans still have many player needs. -Steph]

Perhaps the Texans brass should call up the University of Michigan and get the strength and conditioning coach Rich Rodriguez brought with him. Supposedly the guy is a real beast when it comes to developing workouts.

Great blog. Loyalty between coaches can kill a team. We saw it with Dom Capers and his wacky cast of characters (none of which are in the NFL now). Now we are experiencing it again with Kubiak and his ‘loyal’ group. The first words out of Kubiak when defending his staff is that they are ‘loyal’. Loyal like the violin players on the deck of the Titanic. I would love to see something new – like head coaches finding young new talent that have the right to an opportunity based on successful creativity instead of just loyalty.

[Thanks. Eh, I don't blame him for what he said. Really, it's hard to say publicly anything else in the midst of the season. -Steph]

Nice post, as usual. I don’t usually comment, but I’ve been a longtime reader. I disagree with what you wrote about the strength and conditioning program though.

As far as weight training goes, the fundamentals of training intensity, training volume and recovery are things that haven’t changed over the years. Basically you adjust intensity and volume based on the desired goal and the time needed for an athlete to recover. High intensity training is going to consist of a small training volume. It’s a way to maximize time so that more of it is spent on the field.

The next thing is specificity. Take a swimmer, for instance. If they want to be a better swimmer, they need to get in the pool and swim. If a football player wants to get better at running routes or cutting or whatever, they need to get on the field and do it. Swinging a kettle bell around is going to make them, well, better at swinging a kettle bell. For building mental toughness I can see it, but it’s not going to make them a better football player.

It takes longer to build up fitness than it does to lose it, so the year round program makes perfect sense. I guess it’s voluntary in the offseason. Are there statistics about guys showing up to camp out of shape?

Anyway, if soft tissue injuries on this team are more frequent than on others that would be a good reason to look at the program. It’s not the conditioning that’s making the team soft…it’s poor coaching in the game.

[Thanks for reading and the kind words. As I said, I'm not going to claim to be an expert on these things, but if your team has problems being physical and finishing off games, you at least should look at your strength and conditioning program. I've talked to fitness professionals that don't think very highly about the Texans program. The Texans do have very good participation in their offseason strength program. I do believe in specificity of training but also believe that lifting of machine weights as the only thing you do to improve strength means that you get very good at gym strength. I'm not sure it helps with explosive strength. And as an another example, a number of teams use plyometrics, resisted and over-speed running techniques. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FIH/is_n1_v68/ai_n18607904/pg_1?tag=artBody;col1 . The Texans program is anti-plyometric. Anyway, I think it is an area that the team should evaluate because it is one of the things that has been a constant since the beginning of the franchise. -Steph]

But…but I thought just griping a lot on ChronBlogs, calling the coaches and players funny and insulting names, ignoring or discounting positives, magnifying faults, claiming a 7-year-old team will “never” be any good, claiming it is a “laughingstock”, etc…I thought this was the “path forward!” where did I go astray?

Seriously though, when the team is only three-years old and stinks to begin with, what makes it a good idea to hire a first-time-ever-everything staff (head coach, offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, general manager)?

i know Uncle Bob hired a consultant (Reeves) to recommend fixes to the team, but consultants are usually paid to say what the boss wants to hear. Apparently, that’s what happened here.

How does Bob escape any culpability at all, and why do you work so hard to go out of your way to NOT blame him for anything?

Just wondering.

your pal,

joe

[Joe- I think the Kubiak- Rick Smith hiring was a reflection of what DIDN'T work with his first staff. With the first staff, McNair hired Casserly and then a bunch of names that didn't work well together. This time he hired a group that were intended to work together on the same page. They've accomplished this better on offense than on defense. As for the OC, the original OC was a Kubiak guy, Sherman took over, and now it is another Kubiak guy. The youth of the OC was never a consideration because 1. he's on the same page as Kubiak and knows the offense, 2. you have experience in Alex Gibbs; 3. on the offensive side of the ball in particular, there is a lot of cross-coaching that goes beyond what their titles are. The defensive coordinator Richard Smith wasn't their first pick, and he had been a co-coordinator briefly at Miami, so he wasn't a complete novice. But he has been over his head with this job since the beginning and needs to go. As for McNair, I like ownership that hires football people and gives them money to do what they need to do. He's not an ego guy and doesn't pretend he knows more than he knows, and he is not cheap. He has in the past tried to get high profile coaches (like a Jimmy Johnson) but you can't blame him for failing at that when a bunch of teams haven't either. Whether he has hired the right football people is something that time tells. Most coaches end up getting fired--nature of the game. -Steph]

What do you think of this thought? I think the two biggest disappointments (among many) from Kubiak are these:

1. No consistent running game. We were told this guy could get “any running back” to succeed in his system. Yet, all we really have to show for it is an undersized rookie who probably isn’t a 20+ carry a game guy (though I love his game and think if we had one or two other quality backs, we would be on to something) and Ahman Green. I think the Green signing is what will ultimately cost Kubiak his job. Why would a guy with a system that is a supposed RB factory sign a past-his-prime RB for major bucks? It makes no sense and it is just killing the team

2. Inconsistent QB play. This is a guy who was supposed to be an expert at “coaching up” QB’s. First he told us we could win a SB with Carr, which anybody with a modicum of reason knew was asinine. And now all we have is TO and injury hi-jinks from 1 and 1a.

While we certainly have a laundry list of issues, I think these two are the most inexcusable.

[Texans have had a ton of needs and not much cap space. They've been using placeholders at running back and have had a offense that has functioned over the talent level on the field. The running game has improved this year, but the disappointing part is the lack of run play calls. http://myespn.go.com/blogs/afcsouth/0-6-44/Texans-running-better--still-not-at-Gibbs--pace.html Part of that is getting down in games. The Texans offense has to be perfect to make up for a defense that can't win games, and no offense is perfect. As for your other issues, I think I explained all that before: http://blogs.chron.com/texanschick/2008/09/on_the_houston_texans_texan_fa.html You didn't like that explanation then, so I don't suppose you would like it now. Once history is done, you can never know what the alternative history would have been. As bad as the Carr 2006 thing was, some of the alternatives to that could have been much worse, strange to say. -Steph]

I’ve always appreciated that you appear to read reader comments and consider their point of view before responding. Now you’re making me famous by quoting me. I have a new favorite blog for sure.

Seriously, there is a lot I’d like to say about this entry, but since I have to get some work done today, I’ll limit it to the win now vs future item – we haven’t beaten that one to death yet.

The best example I have of win now vs future is Steve Slaton and this week’s Indy game. Indy has a weak run defense, and Slaton put up 93 yards on 16 carries last time they played (5.8 average). So you look at the matchup and say Run Slaton Run, then run some more. However, the coaching staff has already noticed some signs of fatigue with Slaton. Including preseason, he has already played more games than he did last year, and against NFL competition as well. Tired players get hurt. So do you play Slaton often, as he gives you the best chance to win, or do you trot out Green, who needs to be done after this year, and Moats to protect the future?

If Kubiak were worried about his job, he would be tempted to use Slaton as much as possible. I think he is safe for now, and would probably choose to protect the future anyway. It’s the right thing to do. They are doing a similar thing with Brown rotating at tackle. Now, if it is good to put a less talented veteran in to preserve your starting rookies, I think it follows that you should also be willing to play your less experienced rookies in place of veterans, especially on the ineffective defense. They have been with the team all season, and should be ready for some game experience. The defensive rookies should get more game reps in the next few weeks. However, since the DC is on the hot seat, he might be reluctant to go with less experienced players in hopes that the veterans might save his job. And that is a good argument in favor of firing him now – a new guy might be more willing to develop the younger players. If this were the case, I could support firing Smith now.

[Given what I've seen of the Texans defense, I would be beyond surprised if they could play to the level that would save Smith's job no matter who is on the field. Over the last three years, they play the best when the the opposing offense is struggling or shooting themselves in the foot and has their own issues. I had less of a problem of Kubiak playing Slaton less last week, than I had of having only 15 running calls the whole game and a number of those being at the end they didn't matter. - Steph]

pretty much everyone has been agreeing that we need a big monster DT to clog the middle next yr to help this def so what are names out there that we could be possibly get via free agency, trade, or the draft? I am one that would like to have one that has already being able to do it in the NFL the way jets and browns trading for Jenkins and rogers for their teams cause with the draft as we have already experience on our d line that it is a crap shoot and we don’t know what we will get and we do not have the time anymore or the patience as fans for a guy to develop anymore

[It would be nice to get an already developed DE too--hard to find these guys with what the Texans can pay. Would be good for free agency to have a DC that players want to play for -Steph]

You are seriously the best blogger ever. Not the most correct,or that I agree with the most, but the best. And what is the point with only discussing stuff with like-minded individual?

[Thank you. I take that as the highest compliment. I'm not sure how *correct* any of us can be with any of this stuff because that almost assumes that there is one right answer (or any right answers, for that matter *sigh*). For me, I like putting out there what is noodling around in my brain and then having a reasonable, reality-based conversation about it. Yeah, I agree that group think is no fun, and I have to say I enjoy reading stuff that provides a definite point of view, defends that point of view with accurate information but stays open to additional information and analysis. Not being wishy washy but recognizing that nobody has all the answers. So that's what I try to do. I'm glad you appreciate it. -Steph]

Stephanie, I agree with other’s comment that you run the best Texan blog based on your deep analysis, careful reference to stats and facts, and attention to detail.

I agree that Richard Smith needs to be fired yesterda, but we have the worst defense in the NFL because Gary Kubiak allows it. How many times have we heard Gary say, we don’t want to leave our DBs on an island so we like to rush 3 or 4 DL only. Gary is fired and a new era will begin. Let us all be patient. Best times are yet to come

[Thanks. The defense has been bad whether they are blitzing or not blitzing. According to the 2008 Pro Football Prospectus, Smith year 1 they blitzed a ton and were awful. Smith year 2 they blitzed a lot less and were awful. This year they are trying everything and they are still awful. The defense needs a DC with a solid track record and a direction- an offensive minded head coach needs that. A DC that the players can respect because they know that guy knows what he is doing because he has done it before. Okay you fire Kubiak, what pie in the sky head coach you think will come here and fix everything? Most of the names I hear make me say "yeah right, no way that will happen" or "meh."

Let me first say that I am in favor of giving Gary Kubiak one more year, that is unless he refuses to fire Richard Smith, and then they all gotta go. So, since there must be a replacement I say why not N.Y. Giants DC Steve Spagnola? If Bob McNair is serious, open up the wallet and hire this guy. He’s won a SB using the 4-3. He obviously knows what players it takes, so let him build us a defense.

I first heard about your blog from Sean and John on 1560 and I must say that it is one of the better ones on the Chron. I still have love for LZ’s blog, but your research and stats and evidence is great.

[Thanks. LZ's blog is a must stop. Enjoy it even when I don't always agree. Has a point of view.-S]

I think the best thing that could happen for our defense is to get a new DC starting immediately. After reading the comments that D-Rob made convinced me a change in DC must be made soon. I have heard that our D-line coach Mr. Bush is a possible replacement and if so why not give him a seven game job interview. Throughout the remainder of the season you can see how the players respond to him and see if the players believe in what he is trying to do system wise. If they don’t we aren’t any worse off and he if works out than that will give the defense some stability and direction heading into the off-season. Other than a new DC we need to focus on our D-line. All great teams control the line of scrimmage. I think another year under coach Gibbs will improve our O-line but there has been no noticeable improvement in our defensive tackle play. I don’t know if the D-line can be fixed, but I would sure like to see improvement. And for the record this is the best blog site around. Thanks for your work Steph!

Schaub hasn’t been nicked up for no reason. He has been destroyed with some pretty big hits.

I’ve made this point a half dozen times over the last year. Any QB who takes a full-on shot by a pro defensive end or linebacker is going to be injured sooner rather than later. Tom Brady is out for the year, and maybe next year, and no one is calling him fragile. Is Keith Rivers fragile? He took a shot that was less of a blind side hit than Schaub took last year from Cromartie.

Guys like Brady and Peyton Manning have been fortunate to have o-lines that protect them extremely well.

In Rick and Gary’s limited defense the last 3 years they have been operating from a very compromised salary cap. They have been limited to mostly bottom fishing. Their attempts at a few proven names Moulds and Colvin have back fired. Andre Davis has proven to be their only gem. Next year is much better, they’re close $30,000,000 under the cap when the new season starts.

Kubiak is his own worst enemy. From the very start he said he was going to hire young inexperienced coaches because someone did the same for him. Hopefully now he has learned his lesson. Hopefully now Kubiak realizes that he needs a DC with actual DC experience who has had some good successes at stopping and limiting NFL offenses. Kubiak’s loyalties to past allegiances have limited the strength of his current coaching situation.

I think some of the problems with FA personnel is Kubiak has let some these inexperience coaches have to much say on the players they want or need. Sherman while not inexperienced, is a good example. Sherman’s eye for talent was his downfall in GB.

IMO the Texans should take their new found wealth in FA salary cap and use it to fix the defense and use the draft to improve the offense. For instance imagine Percy Harvin lined opposite AJ or Slaton and Harvin in the backfield lined up in the Wild Texan.

[You make some good points.I think sometimes you are limited by what coaches are available too. Kubiak wanted Gibbs from the beginning but got Sherman instead. Richard Smith was a very experienced NFL coach, but not very experienced at running a defense. And was not Kubiak's first choice. Putting together a staff is always an on-going process. -Steph]

So is that ALL that is wrong with the TexAnnes?…..”Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?”

[I think you have your own issues to worry about. Not meaning to pick on you directly, but check out this funny cartoon (should be funny (a little maddening) to Cowboy fans too, unless they don't have any sense of humor at all): http://www.bangcartoon.com/2008/ifsandbutts.htm But yeah, I would prefer for this entry to stay football focused and not devolve into a bunch of lame schoolyard name calling silliness. -Steph]

You keep saying Gibbs experience helps young Shanahan. How does an offensive line coach help with play calling and strategy ????

And why should a Coach be expected to constantly RUN into an ‘eight in the box’ defense that every team has thrown at the Texans. My biggest concern in Kubiak trying to use play action instead of having that R back help that ‘well coached line’ with pass blocking.

[The play calling is on Kubiak. And you can't completely let the defense dictate play calling. Play action won't work the way it should unless defenses think the team is going to run. They really aren't running that much play action. -Steph]

How nice. Again. We talk about the quality of the DL line play. Obviously you have not played the game of football. So shut up. If your OL practices against a DL who rushes 3 or 4 and the CB drop back so that the cacth is 10 yards or more ahead of them, so guess what the outcome is going to be come Sunday? My 5 year old daughter who plays Madden 2007 can tell you that. Why Richard Smith can’t see that? and why is he still drawing a paycheck from the Texans? it’s a total team embarrasasment. I am ashamed to a Texan season ticket holder

Just wanted to say, Stephanie, as far as I’m concerned your blog now has first-read status, even over Zierlein’s. Lawyers get a bum rap a lot of the time (and there’s that spectacular 1% where it’s deserved), but for the most part I really appreciate the way lawyers analize things.

When I think about the Texans these days, I find myself thinking of the stuff you come up with, first.

[Thanks. Actually I would say that number is over 1%, but most likely because many attorneys deal with contentious things and most people only deal with attorneys during the worst times in their lives. -Steph]

Thanks for reading and the kind words. As I said, I’m not going to claim to be an expert on these things, but if your team has problems being physical and finishing off games, you at least should look at your strength and conditioning program. I’ve talked to fitness professionals that don’t think very highly about the Texans program. The Texans do have very good participation in their offseason strength program. I do believe in specificity of training but also believe that lifting of machine weights as the only thing you do to improve strength means that you get very good at gym strength. I’m not sure it helps with explosive strength. And as an another example, a number of teams use plyometrics, resisted and over-speed running techniques. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FIH/is_n1_v68/ai_n18607904/pg_1?tag=artBody;col1 . The Texans program is anti-plyometric. Anyway, I think it is an area that the team should evaluate because it is one of the things that has been a constant since the beginning of the franchise. -Steph

Well this certainly explains a lot. A bunch of us were discussing this last year in a Texans group, and we wondered what the training was. Now I know there is a direct relation to the training program and the injuries.

You are correct. They need to change their fitness and conditioning program. Why?

Lifting weights is great…for offseason. Constant lifting of weights does not necessarily equate to strength on the field. Most weight lifting is specific to certain muscle groups while neglecting the connective muscles or the complete muscle groping necessary for physical sports. Also, lifting weights rip and tear muscles. These take time to heal with rest. These guys are constantly working them, thus they don’t give muscles proper time to heal during the season. That leads to injuries.

Plyometrics is a great idea. MMA fighters use this a lot. I would recommend adding yoga to their program. Why? Yoga is a full body workout. I know, sounds gay, BUT more and more athletes are starting to take yoga. You stretch your muscles. You work on ALL the connective muscles groups. When I first started taking it, I was horrible at it. After 10 weeks, I was able to do a head stand at age 40. Something I hadn’t accomplished in 20 years (of course I hadn’t attempted it in probably that long either). BTW, Ray Lewis does yoga.

I would also recommend jumping rope again. I know, something little girls do. So do MMA fighters and boxers. Builds stamina. Once again, another full body workout (ok, maybe not the neck), which uses those connective muscle groups. Helps with that explosiveness in the legs. Gets the heart rate up. Cheap and effective.

I’m sorry but during the season, I’d throw the weights out the window.

If you get the chance, grab the October 2008 issue of Men’s Fitness. Ray Lewis goes over his workout program. If you read into it, most of what he does is plyometric.

I find your comments about the weather in Houston being a factor in individual performance very correct but very mis-understood, and a potential reason for the problems in team development and the early season.

I grew up in Houston and worked for over 12 years as a roofer for my father’s roofing company, so I am very familiar with performing extreme physical labor in an environment that

could reach 120 degrees in the Summer, and in which we could not rest nor stop.

What I learned from this experience was that

it slowed me down and took away my reserve

energy and required that I change my human

physical, repiratory and mental faculties

from their normal functions.

The effects on myself, from one job to the next that required new sets of physical movements were required and changing the use of auxiliary muscles, that were not normally used, forced me to adjust my total sytem.

As the physical requirements chaged such as going from flat roofing to vertical roofing on steep roofs on high-rise buildings, caused

exhaustion as they require defensive maneuvers to keep from falling or walking near dangerous positions.

These extreme physical changes on a regualar basis were easy in the rest of the year, but with the heat, there came a need for my body to go into a heat survival mode which required going inward with my consciousness and a purposful reduction of my heart rate which in turn lowered my breating and body stature, as I receeded into a shell as my body dispelled the accumulated heat in my body.

Therefore, having said all of this, I can only tell you that I have believed for the last 40 years that the weather is the primary cause that

Houston football teams sometimes seem to be in a sluggish lathargic mode with no reserve energy when the season starts in August. And to allow the body to adjust back to more normal temperatures in early October, the re-adjustment costs any normal human being its strength and a mental suspension while the prosess generates a renewed and more normal affect.

got to 100% disagree Steph, I think Texans SHOULD try and survive 95 degree heat. As it is right now, soon as it gets uncomfortable they run for bubble. Jimmy Johnson took Dallas to Midwestern State in Wichita Falls (where they hold hotter than hell 150 bike race),to get players (even 300 lbs guys) in shape for a 16 game season.

Rather than coddling players, either they get in shape and learn some endurance or they go play in some lovely fall climate.

[Not suggesting that the players get coddled. Am suggesting that the players who look the best in 95+ degree heat may not be the same beefy guys that might help the Texans over the course of a 16 game season. -Steph]